Wangari Maathai

Week of October 3, 2011

Wangari Maathai

In the News: Kenyan environmentalist, feminist, Nobel Laureate, and political activist Wangari Maathai died on September 25, 2011. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. During this time, trees were planted throughout Kenya to stop soil erosion and to provide firewood for fuel and jobs for women. Educated in the United States and Africa, Dr. Maathai also served as a veterinary anatomy faculty member in the 1970s at the University of Nairobi.